Two years ago I accompanied Dr. Lyn Graves and his North Omaha Sudanese Boy Scout troop on an overnight camp out at Little Sioux, Iowa. Lyn had a dozen excited scouts, and needed help with the transportation of equipment, as well as some additional adult supervision.

At 57 years of age, I hadn’t camped out in many years. But, I remembered fondly my own scouting camp out experiences, and the care my leaders took to impart some knowledge and life skills at those outings. As I was collecting snacks to take to the camp-out, I decided to collect one variety of every nut in the grocery’s produce isle, do some research, and to tell a story about each kind of nut to the scouts. Of course, the scouts got to sample each variety. Surprisingly, several of the young men had never experienced the taste of a PEANUT!

My favorite nut story was the almond. Did you know that most of the almonds we eat are grown in Orange County, California? And, that every year during February and March the largest pollination event in the world occurs, as honey bees from 38 U.S. states are shipped to California to pollinate the almond groves?

Scientists estimate that nearly half of the U.S. honey bee population participates in the annual event! After the Nebraska winter of 2009 – 2010, I wish I was a honey bee!! In any event, we had an amazing camping weekend. I had fun and made several new friendships. Now I’m proud to say that I’m NUTS about scouting.

It costs approximately $137 per to provide financing for underprivileged scouts. This year, I’ll personally be providing my financial support. Won’t you join me in sponsoring one or two scouts? Send me a Direct Message or an email if you can help out this year. Happy Motoring!

Eileen’s Colossal Cookies makes some of the best cookies in the area. Eileen started baking cookies in her Hastings, Nebraska home in 1982 and now has cookie franchises throughout the midwest, with two Omaha locations and one in Papillion. The Omaha locations are: 144th & Center, and 72nd & Pacific; the Papillion location is 8410 S. 73rd Plaza (73rd and Giles). Eileen’s cookies are delicious! Chocolate Chip, Snicker-doodle, M&M… need I say more. Eileen’s has several wonderful flavors from which to choose. Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pick up a box for your family, for co-workers or for the Omaha Driver! Yum. Happy Motoring!

During the month of November, the Omaha Driver will be travelling the streets of the city in search of Omaha’s best burger. His social networking friends have submitted many great suggestions… and he’ll be sampling them all. Here is the list: